Tuesday February 19, 2002 was the date. São José dos Campos, Brazil, was the place. The first Embraer E-Jet – an E170 – took to the air and a new era (arguably) of air transport really got under way.
Rolled out on October 29, 2001, the Embraer E-Jet family was, at the time, in a sales battle with Bombardier Aerospace’s CRJ family (now Mitsubishi) and the 728/928 family being developed by Fairchild Dornier (See Airliner World May 2022). While the CRJs grew out of the development of a business jet platform, the Embraer and Fairchild Dornier products were clean sheet designs.
The importance of the E-Jet family is not lost on Luís Carlos Affonso, Embraer’s vice-president of engineering, technology and corporate strategy. There are few people who would have a greater appreciation of these aircraft over the intervening years.
Back in the late 1990s, having been chief engineer on the successful ERJ145 programme, Affonso became the E-Jets programme vice-president at its inception in 1999. He held that role until the aircraft’s entry into service, while he also served as senior vice-president of engineering and new product development.
After leading the Executive Aviation business from 2005 to 2011, Affonso’s r…
